Piano Lessons
by AB Firestar
Summary: He was only there to be of assistance. She didn't have to catch his attention the way she did...SasukeHinata. Story is way better than summary.
1. Chapter 1

**D I S C L A I M ER - - **Naruto is all Kishimoto's property; I am merely a peasant obssessing over the anime/manga. Feed me.

**Information Needed to Understand Crazy Story (I.N.U.C.S) - - **This is an Alternate Universe story. Naruto and friends did not retrieve Sasuke back and so Sasuke has spent 5 years away from "home". He is 17 in this story and after ripping the head off our snakey friend, Orochimaru, Sasuke was found unconscious by (sexy) ANBU Black Ops and brought home. It's been a month or so since his homecoming and even though killing his (ever so sexy) brother is still his top priority, he can't even glance towards the horizon without 20 ANBU personnels appearing out of nowhere around him. So yes, this is the story of a waiting killer and his diversion from his (supposedly) only path in life.

**CHAPTER I:****  
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**x**

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Unsteady.

To describe the young man as unsteady was very much unusual. To say he was unsteady with no opponent before him was far more unusual. He lacked some emotions, one could say, but none of those humane feelings could be replaced by the sensation of unsteadiness. It made more sense to claim water being the shade of neon green than to say that he, an avenger, was unsteady.

No beast before him to unleash fear in him – he would have scoffed at that.

No man to dare drain confidence from his veins – he would have smirked at that.

No rushing winds from Mother Nature to scathe him – he would have grinned at that.

But what unsteadied him was an opponent that could no be beaten. Man against himself.

Thoughts unraveled inside him as he, Sasuke Uchiha, stood inside the household of Hyuuga. Hiashi Hyuuga.

The leader of such a stronghold hated Sasuke before having met him. Uchiha could not say the feeling was mutual but it was close. It was awkward, too awkward, to be under the roof of those who disliked him. Were it any other person, Sasuke would have enjoyed the hatred – made him feel special and ever so tingly inside.

But the main house of Hyuuga was an inferno even in its quiet disposition, where Satan took role of Hiashi and Sasuke was submitted to his bidding.

It was times like these that he wanted to send Tsunade straight to hell personally. These ridiculous missions that practically taunted his abilities were causing rage to burn through his veins. Ever since he had returned, proved to be sane and a friend of Konoha, the shinobi had been treated as a bomb waiting to explode any given moment.

He was a force to be reckoned with – not toyed with. And that was exactly what they were doing to him. While the blond loser had all sorts of freedom that came with being known as the next hokage in a few years and the pink haired emotional wreck continued to obsess over the Sharigan possessor, Sasuke had to withstand the humiliation of being given missions within the perimeters of Konoha.

And now to even pull on his puppet strings with harder mocking, he had been assigned duty inside the hellhole of Konoha. Standing in the main entrance with just but the sound of silence sucking at his hearing, Sasuke wondered if this unbearable feeling of being forced to be lower than those who hated you was worse than being unable to kill those that you hated.

"Uchiha."

A calm glance to his right exposed the strongest of the Hyuuga coming towards him with a look that gave no emotion but that of distaste. Neji, stoic as his opponent, walked over to Sasuke and stood in front of him, analyzing the embodiment of revenge before him. Sasuke, despite his natural dislike for the Hyuuga, met his gaze and kept an unreadable stare to Neji. The silence was deafening.

After an eternity of silent rivalry, Neji spoke once more, his voice never above that of a sigh. "Hiashi-sama is ready to see you." And with no more words, the jounin turned around and walked away, leading a silent Uchiha to the deepest chasm of hell, Sasuke was sure.

Hands in his pockets, his footsteps fell quiet on the carpeted wooden floors, his hearing and mind subjected to even more solitary sounds – his breathing and the stillness in the house.

His journey to Hiashi's office had to be coming to end for his ears faintly picked up sound...a tune...

**x**

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**A/N: **Possibly one of the weirdest beginnings I've done. So short and...lacking of a true ending, I guess. Meh. Well! I do hope your curiosity is slightly peaked and that this...chapter, if I can even call it that, is satisfying in some way. Uhm...Hmm...That's all for now! Please review, tee hee! 


	2. Chapter 2

**D I S C L A I M E R -- **All I own is a silly infatuation for Hinata and Sasuke fanfiction! Characters are all Kishomoto's.

**CHAPTER II:**

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Some strange, little melody solemnly danced through the air, the volume of it becoming higher with every step of the way. It breathed throughout the halls, being the only sound alive in that godforsaken house – well, the only sound besides their footsteps.

_Ironic, _Sasuke thought, _reminds me of home_. Letting his black eyes roam the world around him, he observed the decorations of the rich and powerful Hyuga, Sasuke bitterly recognizing the familiar style. Different eyes, different fighting styles, same motives, same interior decorator it seemed.

"You are not to speak to her."

Eyes settled onto the form of Neji, an eyebrow slowly raising at his words. What?

The young man took Sasuke's silence as confusion and forced himself to explain on what he meant. As the music grew louder, Neji rose his voice to be heard yet never turning to meet eyes with the Uchiha. "You are not to converse with the first daughter."

Questions that rarely ever came up in his neat mind, swarmed at the back of his throat, ready to coming blurting out but Sasuke remained silent. Why the hell he couldn't talk to "the first daughter" was the primary inquiry, the second being why Neji referred to his younger cousin as "the first daughter" and not his usual "Hinata-sama" or whatever he called her.

But he spoke no words and simply followed Neji down the never-ending hallway and around a corner. And it was there where the music was coming from, where the sad little tune echoed someone's pain and where the first daughter was sitting at the piano, back facing the entrance and away from onyx eyes.

Some awkward feeling rose to his shoulders and made them tense as Sasuke stepped into the vicinity with Neji and no words were spoken --- nor did the music stop playing. He was never one to give a shit about etiquette, really, but something struck him odd as to why the heiress of the Hyuga clan was so impolite as to stay seated and ignore the guests in her presence. And why Neji, whose cold exterior turned once more to face Sasuke, was oblivious to the young woman's existence.

The confusion remained within his mind's chasms and no emotion played across his features, Sasuke looking coolly into the eyes of white fury as they stared into his. "I will retrieve the lord; you will stay here."

_No shit_, Sasuke innerly remarked but simply dismissed Neji's demeanor by looking elsewhere; paying attention to something much more interesting than the bastard in front of him.

He could feel the burning glare Neji sent him linger but it slowly left, the Hyuga leaving to do as he said. Which Sasuke thought was a waste of his time. A frown that displayed irritation took form on his lips; they were toying with him again. They were wasting his time that could be used to train and get stronger. First the bastard says that the even bigger bastard was ready to see him and yet here Sasuke was, _still waiting _to meet with the one whom he was assigned to. Fucking bullshit. Someone up in the Hokage's quarters wanted to really tick him off --- and they were doing a marvelous job at it.

A sudden plunge of a wrong key caught his attention and Sasuke turned his perspective to the wallflower at the edge of the room. As though nothing had happened, the pianist continued to play. But Sasuke noticed the way her body tensed even as she kept touching keys with flowing ease. So she _had _noticed them walk in and she _did _acknowledge the fact that she had a sole audience in the room still.

Personally, the Uchiha didn't care about her ability to play an instrument, much less care about her at all. Sasuke knew who she was and after a brief analysis on her character, he categorized her under the letter W. For Weak.

He was going to place her under P for Pathetic but weak suited her far better. She was beyond the definition of shy and the picture above the denotation of Pushover.  
How the hell she was heiress to his family's rival was a question that always came up when he saw her but he never answered it; couldn't, really.

Hearing her play another incorrect note, Sasuke narrowed his eyes, realizing that he was the cause of her distorted playing. She seemed to have felt his glare and catching his reflection from a mirror on the wall across him, he understood her apprehension. He willed away the Sharigan, letting his eyes bleed back into black and sighed inaudibly – he was bored out of his mind.

What was taking that man so long? Sasuke just wanted to complete his mission and get the hell back to the training grounds, away from people that feared him, away from those that sneered at him and most certainly, away from silent houses whose only sign of life was an even more silent girl playing piano that irritated him by continuing to mess up on her song.

And said irritation snapped his very thin patience and it took every fiber in his being to hold back a growl from coming out. He looked towards her way again and gripped the insides of his pockets to refrain himself from Chidori-ing the piano to the deepest circle of fucking hell.

Mentally pissing on the words of Neji, Sasuke strolled over to her side and peered down to her pale hands that danced over the black and white pieces. He noticed her body stiffen at his appearance and the way she slightly stopped playing, fingers hovering over the keys before moving into action once more.

She refused to look up at him, much less acknowledge him but Sasuke didn't care; in fact, he didn't care about anything at all right then and there.

"Can you play something _else_?" Cold words soaked in his small fury, barely above a whisper but sufficiently loud and clear to get her to stop playing altogether.

And without a single syllable escaping from her, Hinata began to play, another song as he had requested.

At that, Sasuke was slightly amused, curiosity glazing over his eyes for a moment. So, she would not speak to him – nor look at him – but she did regard him nonetheless. Which only brought forth another question in him: why was he not allowed to speak to her...and why could she not do the same?

A tinge of mischief dropped within himself and Sasuke let his eyes fall on her rather than the piano keys she was reigning over. And sure enough, the blush that always painted her face grew on her pale cheeks. Somehow, Sasuke knew that the blush had not been the result of her feeling admired by his peering eyes, like all of his fan girls would do; no, he knew that it was of him scrutinizing her to the point where she felt uncomfortable...

Then again, he _was _Sasuke Uchiha, the ninja that most mothers shunned their children from. He was the idol of little boys, every now and then Sasuke looking down into a pair of big curious eyes and a stammering voice that always had "Sasuke" and "awesome" in a sentence together. He was the bloody object of infatuation of all the virgins and those that were adventurous; mysterious and dangerous and possibly in dire need of passion. Yeah, right. But no, he was nothing like that to Hinata, he was sure.

He was...intimidating. Which almost made him smirk.

Wanting to know what was the reason for this "no talking to the first daughter" bullshit (and to piss off Neji beyond comprehension), Sasuke began to do what he was told not to.

"...Play something else."

Without hesitation, her fingers merged into another tune, each song solemn but beautiful in its own way. His eyes still set on her, he quietly watched her character, noticing every little detail. She had changed quite a lot. A fuller body, long dark hair, a little taller of course, but those were obvious features. Sasuke focused on the way she kept her eyes hidden behind her dark bangs, how she merely tapped against the keys of the piano, her habit of keeping count of the beat with her right foot, and the way she'd bite down on her bottom lip softly whenever there came a very complicated part in the song he imagined. He even noticed the goosebumps that began to crawl up her neck and the little shiver she tried to hide. He almost smirked.

Understanding that she would do what he asked, Sasuke took another step in his curiosity. "Stop."

Hinata halted and placed her hands back in Middle C position, ready to play if he asked once more.

Silence endeavored...

"...Talk to me."

Sasuke watched her body grow tense but she made no other reaction. She did not object nor do as told. And that made him even more curious. "Why can't you talk to me?" He asked casually, a cool and leveled tone being used.

And once more, she remained silent.

Hinata slowly wrung her hands, Sasuke taking a glance at them before looking back at her turned face, a shade deeper than before. But curiosity did not push him to do what he planned next. It was anger at the stupidity of the entire Hyuga clan and the silent treatment he was suffering for no reason.

A gasp escaped her lips, echoing softly within the quiet containment of the room.

Silence...

Sasuke's eyes grew wide for the split of second.

Holding her chin between his fingers, having forced her to look at him straight in the eyes as he had leaned down to be a few, scarce inches from her face, staring into frightened eyes, Sasuke...remained silent.

He could feel her shuddering breath on his skin and watched in concealed shock as her eyes whelmed up with tears – but he did not let her go.

"...Who hit you?"

The question softly slipped from him finally, eyes looking at the bruise surrounding her right eye.

**x**

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**A/N: **I finally defeated my writer's block for this story! I just sat down and glared at my monitor and wrote whatever came to mind! And the thoughts just flowed out like water, hooray! Anyway! Onto to the important things. Yes, someone has hit Hinata! And what's up with the silent treatment, hmm? And just what is Sasuke's bloody mission! 

I must confess, I imagine Sasuke being very bitchy and snappy. Having little patience, he shall curse in my stories. Even when he's thinking, he shall curse. I just love profanity. I should have written this up long before I started the st-- shit, that reminds me! I have to change the rating on this damn thing now, grr...Oh well! Do not worry, friends! Sasuke will be so damn sexy in my story, you won't mind the cursing. Or the short temper.

Read and review, darlings! Like you did last time which made me so very happy!!! You guys rock!


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